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The Religious Context in Explaining Public Support for the European Union

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  • Margarete Scherer

Abstract

This article examines contextual explanations for public support for European integration. Apart from economic and identity-based theories, there may also be a religious dimension that could help to explain why some countries are principally pro-European while others are largely eurosceptic. It is argued that differences between nations are embedded in historical alliances between Catholic and Protestant denominations and political systems. Hierarchical linear model analyses of data from the European Social Survey (ESS) show that: (1) citizens from Catholic countries are more likely to support European unification than the inhabitants of Protestant countries; and (2) this effect conditions the individual-level effect of welfare attitudes. This suggests that in Protestant countries support for welfare redistribution is associated with low support for the EU, while in Catholic countries support for welfare redistribution is associated with high support for the EU.

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  • Margarete Scherer, 2015. "The Religious Context in Explaining Public Support for the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 893-909, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:53:y:2015:i:4:p:893-909
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/jcms.12224
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hajo G. Boomgaarden & Andreas R. T. Schuck & Matthijs Elenbaas & Claes H. de Vreese, 2011. "Mapping EU attitudes: Conceptual and empirical dimensions of Euroscepticism and EU support," European Union Politics, , vol. 12(2), pages 241-266, June.
    2. Brent F. Nelsen & James L. Guth, 2003. "Religion and Youth Support for the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 89-112, March.
    3. Sara B. Hobolt & Wouter Van der Brug & Claes H. De Vreese & Hajo G. Boomgaarden & Malte C. Hinrichsen, 2011. "Religious intolerance and Euroscepticism," European Union Politics, , vol. 12(3), pages 359-379, September.
    4. John Garry & James Tilley, 2009. "The Macroeconomic Factors Conditioning the Impact of Identity on Attitudes towards the EU," European Union Politics, , vol. 10(3), pages 361-379, September.
    5. Eichenberg, Richard C. & Dalton, Russell J., 1993. "Europeans and the European Community: the dynamics of public support for European integration," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(4), pages 507-534, October.
    6. Claes H. De Vreese & Hajo G. Boomgaarden, 2006. "Media Effects on Public Opinion about the Enlargement of the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 419-436, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Monika Bauhr & Nicholas Charron, 2020. "In God we Trust? Identity, Institutions and International Solidarity in Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1124-1143, September.
    2. Hien, Josef, 2019. "The Religious Foundations of the European Crisis," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 57(2), pages 185-204.

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